Monday, April 06, 2015

And it is of the all singing, all dancing, that we are going to take a little look at today.

Now unless you have been living in a MSM newsroom (BBC included) for the last fourteen years, you may have come to your own conclusion, that there is something not quite kosher with the official narrative as to what happened on that world changing day, the day of America's new Pearl Harbour, September 11 2001.

Far beit for me to set before you examples gleaned from the terabytes of data already writ on the subject, your tent is already pitched in the reality camp, or it is pitched in the official camp,the camp where our two featured hacks are firmly ensconced. What ever you may believe, it is not my purpose here today, to try and convince you otherwise. Rather it is to look at some of research claims, and integrity if you wish, of our chosen hacks, Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan.

The Truth is Out There

Saturday, September 10, 2011
By Jonathan deBurca Butler

Pile upon pile of files are laid out on the floor or hastily stacked up on the writing desk.

The only dash of colour is the pink and yellow post-it-notes that peek out from the heaving folders. Some carry obscure reference numbers, others recognisable words like ‘Taliban’, ‘Clinton’, and ‘Al Qaeda’.

Stuck to the frame of a large, light-giving window is a pleasant, black-and-white photo of the couple smiling. Below it is the cover of their latest book, The Eleventh Day, with the dramatic picture of the vomiting explosion that followed the crashing of American Airlines Flight 175 into the South Tower of The World Trade Center at 9.03am on September 11, 2001.

Their study-library is the type of room for which an anxious parent might scold an obsessively studious teenage child. In the case of Summers and Swan, it is the other way around.

“Every night, we come back into the house, sit down at the dinner table [with their three teenage children] and start talking about September 11,” says Swan. “And then Tony looks up at me and says to the children, ‘We’re not going to talk about the book now.’ And they don’t believe us.”

For the last five years, from their base and home near Cappoquin in Co Waterford, Summers and Swan have been investigating and writing about the most infamous day in modern history.

It has been a tough slog. Summers, who was born in London and whose father was from Kerry, has lived in the area since 1973. Having worked for the BBC in war zones, he was offered the opportunity to write a book on the Romanovs in the early 1970s, which he thought “might earn enough to get me a new car.” It topped the bestsellers list and afforded him the choice of his own work. Several successful books followed; later, while researching a book on J Edgar Hoover, in Washington, Summers met Swan, who was then working for The London Independent.

“Well, Tony hired me to be his researcher,” says Swan. “He claimed it was going to be two weeks’ worth of work. And it ended up being two years. And when he could no longer afford to pay me, he offered to marry me.”

Swan, who was born and raised in Connecticut, says that moving from the capital of the USA to the somewhat more easygoing and sleepy Waterford countryside was a culture shock.

“Moving from a big city, where everything was happening, to the back-of-nowhere was hard,” she says. “But now I treasure the back-of-nowhere and I wouldn’t change it. I’m never, ever sorry that I did it.”

The couple’s home is situated opposite an early 19th century castle, on the River Blackwater. In this somewhat idyllic setting, they have worked on numerous books and biographies, including Official and Confidential: The Secret Lives of J Edgar Hoover and The Arrogance of Power: The Secret Life of Richard Nixon.

In the era of 24-hour-news, quick-fix facts and panting, speculative conclusions, Summers and Swan stand out as champions of old-school journalism based on diligence and digging around.

Really? champions of old-school journalism based on diligence and digging around.

“It’s no longer feasible to spend the amount of time that we would typically spend on a book anymore,” says Swan. “This book we turned out more quickly [than usual], although it still took the guts of five years. But, you can’t have it both ways. And this is a product of the internet. The problem with the internet is that they expect you to turn out beautiful copy that’s new, and breaks news while sitting in your house doing nothing except reading other stories on the internet.

Quite.

“But that’s not how good journalism is done. We go down the road, we interview people, we read thousands of documents and spend a lot of time on the phone, but at the end of the day we have to think, we produce the goods.”

Ah so! That's how it's done is it?. But that’s not how good journalism is done. We go down the road, we interview people*

We go down the road, we interview people* Do you really? I'm glad you've cleared that one up. But pray forgive me if I mark this lesson in good journalism with a small * Should I forget.

As for producing the goods, might you afford me the question; for whom?

In the case of The Eleventh Day, they most certainly do. It is a compelling (and often harrowing) read from start to finish and with 116 pages of notes and sources listed at the end, it is clear that this tome was a labour of love for both writers.

“We saw that all sorts of sane people were actually confused,” says 68-year-old Summers. “And what we do for a living is take controversial cases or people, and as an old friend of mine used to say, pick them up by their ankles and shake them to see what change comes out. So it sounds like a cliché, but we were trying to get at that elusive thing called ‘something like the truth’.”

Confused are they? Poor souls. ‘something like the truth’ But the actual truth?

One of the strongest aspects of this investigation is how it debunks the conspiracy theorists; people and academics who believe that the Bush administration was involved with the attacks. “We thought we’d poke around and see what we got,” says Summers. “And, in the end, we found nothing. And, really, the conspiracy theorists’ theories do not stand up, they’re not backed by the evidence. And it has blurred a whole lot of it that is serious.”

By academics, am I to assume that includes Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth? One of the strongest aspects of this investigation is how it debunks the conspiracy theorists; people and academics But you are probably right, there being only 2,343 of them and two of you.“And, in the end, we found nothing. Fancy! And, really, the conspiracy theorists’ theories do not stand up, they’re not backed by the evidence. No? But then that's the trouble with conspiracy theorists (and haters) all the trouble they go to, when all they have to do is read one of your books. Aren't they silly?

“We felt that we owed it to these people who were looking at the internet and reading these [conspiracy] books to turn the whole thing upside down and subject it to hard treatment,” says Swan.

We felt that we owed it to these people who were looking at the internet and reading Your altruism knows no bounds.

That hard treatment does not in any way let the Bush administration off the hook. The administration comes across as incompetent, hot-headed, and, in the case of facing down Iraq but never asking questions of other more-economically powerful Arab states, frightened.

Within hours of the attacks, the administration, much to the disbelief of high-ranking intelligence agents, was targeting Iraq. It was later proved that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with the attacks on September 11. Indeed, Osama bin Laden despised the Iraqi leader.

The chapters dealing with bin Laden show him to be a complex character; at one moment intelligent and charismatic, at others a childish bully, but always a religious zealot. The book also reveals that the intelligence agencies knew of the arrival of one, if not two, of the terrorists before the attacks, but failed to act.

There are insights into chief terrorist Mohamed Atta and the other 18 self-proclaimed martyrs and it becomes abundantly clear that their motive was Palestine — something Summers says “people in the States need to understand.”

“We want people to read this book because, to be quite honest, this was a cataclysmic event for the world,” says Swan.

We want people to read this book You don't say? You wanted people to read another of your books quite recently, how did that work out for you?

“It has shaped all of our lives. It has shaped the lives of our children and it will continue to do so. And they should have their lives shaped by the truth, as far as we can know it. People should know what to be afraid of and what not to be afraid of, and know what the lessons are from this and not have them peddled by an administration or by fantasists.”

The Eleventh Day by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan is published by Random House Irish Examiner

And now a little look at what set the ball rolling. The audio clip I had listened to previously, but it wasn't until my colleague and researcher, Maren, a lady from the Netherlands, came up with the article, did the whole thing come together.

Answers on a postage stamp please.

Sometimes it's what you don't do that speaks volumes. Or in this particular instance, it's not what's there that's telling, rather it's what isn't there that screams from the rooftops.

Perhaps by stating that when I opined about the rubbish some people write, it was at the time, without association to our chosen subjects, Summers and Swan.

Let me set the tone.

Further our discussion on the properties of aircraft aluminium.

People do write some shite.

In the case of the 757 that hit the Pentagon, one wing hit the building and the other was forced off by the impact with the building’s load-bearing columns. The remains of the plane then entered into the building in a state “closer to a liquid than a solid mass.”

Close to a liquid than a solid mass. Utter shite in fact. It's not a pie tin from the corner shop we are talking about, it's aircraft Aluminium. For want of a better but less technical description, it's as hard as fuckin' iron.

To cut a long story short, the scribbler of said merde, non other than establishment shills for 9/11, Popular Mechanics.

Can’t help but wonder how much of the content of Summers and Swan book is attributable to Popular Mechanics?

So dear reader, if you have managed to guess what's coming and think there may be a prize for doing such? Sorry, we don't give out prizes for easy peasy.

Debunking the 9/11 Myths: Special Report - The Pentagon

Mete Sozen: Why wasn't the hole as wide as a 757's 124-ft.-10-in. wingspan? A crashing jet doesn't punch a cartoon-like outline of itself into a reinforced concrete building, says ASCE team member Mete Sozen, a professor of structural engineering at Purdue University. In this case, one wing hit the ground; the other was sheared off by the force of the impact with the Pentagon's load-bearing columns, explains Sozen, who specializes in the behavior of concrete buildings. What was left of the plane flowed into the structure in a state closer to a liquid than a solid mass. "If you expected the entire wing to cut into the building," Sozen tells PM, "it didn't happen." Popular Mechanics

No, but you might expect a few broken widows in the area of impact. Which of course, there were none.

Truthers and Consequences: The Trouble with Dean Hartwell’s “Perspective”

Turning to the crash of American Airlines flight 77 into the Pentagon, Hartwell complains that we do not say at what time the mangled debris – some with AA markings – “arrived” on the Pentagon lawn. The Eleventh Day, however, contains several eyewitness accounts of an American Airlines plane crashing into the Pentagon, as well as a detailed explanation of the disintegration of the plane on impact by the respected engineering professor Mete Sozen. Even a casual reading of this information makes it obvious that it was after this impact that the debris arrived – to use Hartwell’s word – on the Pentagon lawn. Anthony Summers & Robbyn Swan

Nice quote. Nice research.

And you wonder why your work of fiction on Madeleine McCann was pulled to pieces?

Wednesday, April 01, 2015

In light of recent tragic events, those that involved the trolling of Brenda Leyland for numerous years (yes numerous) by the cult of McCann followers, prompts me to up part of a previous post on the subject of net anonymity.

I include in those trolls, former head of the CEOP and McCann shill extraordinaire, Jim Gamble. Whose role in the sordid yet tragic affair, is far from that of innocent bystander.

I could include others, those sad little people and inadequates, who think knowledge of someone's private details, and the constant quest to obtain such must be said, brings to their sad little lives, some feeling of importance. Well it doesn't, all it does is endorse the conclusion that folks have already arrived at; that you are pathetic. And to such a degree, as to render you peerless.

To the article then, featuring non other than, Tony Bennett, but more importantly, his best mucker, Peter Mac.

Cut for editing.

. . . But what did strike me about this monumental tribute to one man's mania was, controversy, controversy on a scale unimaginable, and to such a degree that one might suspect that it too was desired in its own right by this strange creature. Or am I overlooking the obvious, the controversy being just another fuel to add to the lime, producing a light of such incandescent brilliance as could only be welcomed by an attention whore of Bennett's proportions.

Struck similarly throughout these many noble causes, were a penultimate culmination of words that invariably involved a phrase such: send cheque for £s to.... and it is here we come to the essence of my little story, the reason it is being writ in the first place.

Inferring that writing behind a pseudonym and not publishing my address, somehow makes me less a writer, somehow cowardly, and that I take sensible precautions against nutjobs, and God alone knows how many of those this case attracts, showing up on my doorstep, somehow less of a man, and this by two posters both using pseudonyms by the way. Two posters on Bennett's Forum, the one Jill Havern started, but now where Bennett holds court in his personal fiefdom. Those two comments elicited a third, here it is below.

PeterMac Jan 10, 2011

Hear , hear. I support you absolutely.
Mr Bennett is possibly the only one of all the people who blog on pro-McCann or pro-Truth sites who gives his full name, address, telephone number, and email.
For that alone he stands head and shoulders above us all. (Does he really you dense fuck?)
(for the record I am Peter MacLeod, a retired Police Superintendent from Nottinghamshire, and I live in Spain at Finca la Guzmana, which you can find on the internet)

Once a thick copper, always a thick copper I guess. yes Peter Mac, Mr Bennett is the only one who gives his full name, address, telephone number, and email. and that's just the point.

Never have I seen a person's personal details given out so freely in so many places, the net is littered with this idiots little labels of self promotion, and that is exactly what they are.

I will defy anybody to search the web and find me another private individual who self promotes himself and his home address like this oddity does. Any person you like on the whole wide web, see if you can find me one.

Five comments from the original article, and as germane as any part of this post, if not more so in fact.
You might pay particular attention to my own last comment, because that is what net anonymity is all about. Heaven forbid, that such a thing as I describe should come pass, although entirely in the realm of the possible. But it is the far simpler thing that any of us might mention in real time via social media, that then becomes a problem. I/you want to be able to say, I'm out for the day, without every scally within a hundred miles knowing my/your house is empty.

The first from the much treasured and never forgotten Linda Baki. Whose input to this travesty, without even considering the state of her health, can only be described as, mighty.

SteelMagnolia 21 February 2011 at 09:43

Posting names and addresses on the Internet is a very dangerous game for everyone. No one knows who reads these blogs, who is monitoring and what is really behind the McCann scam, for the McCanns are con artists, tricksters and allowed to continue in such mode.

It appears the PR has started and the move is onto the States where I feel a look alike of the photofit shall appear.

As we all know today's friend, is tomorrows enemy and that enemy who now has your details will more than not post them on the Internet.

Trust and friendship, hard to find in the real world, more so in cybersphere. ONLY a fool gives out private details, do we not tell our children this ?

Anonymous 21 February 2011 at 09:48

You would think a retired officer of the law would have more sense than to tell you the name of his Finca. As for Bennett, well Bennett's Bennett!! Hated and despised it would appear but it does not seem to bother him in fact I believe he enjoys the attention.

Bennett loves an audience and one day when he falls out with Jill, which is sure to happen the faithful followers will leave her high and dry.

Anonymous 21 February 2011 at 14:48

They are a load of twonks, why do you waste your talent when you are worthy of so much more? You are a writer something to be proud of.

Himself 21 February 2011 at 15:14

Because I take incredible exception to having the piss taken by a young earth creationist.

I cannot think of any analogy that comes anywhere near close to describing the scale of such an insult.

Himself 21 February 2011 at 21:03

What I cannot help but wonder in all this, is what his missus thinks of it all. Firstly that he goes orf gallivanting around the country tilting at windmills, and secondly, being left, presumably on her own, when all the while, half the world knows his address and phone number.

What's the usual MO, Mister shitferbrains, Peter MacLeod, retired Police Superintendent, for house invasion/robbery/rape/murder knowing a woman might be alone in the house, is it something like: ring ring Hello, is Tony there?

For that alone he stands head and shoulders above us all.

Now that wouldn't be too hard of a thing to do would it?

I could say you're about as much a retired Police Superintendent as I am, but that would be far too forgiving, better in fact, that I say you probably are.

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The Gor Blimey Hall of Fame

We aren’t writing about the investigations into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann or any possible suspects: we don’t want to prejudice a legal process that is working in a most satisfactory way. - John Blacksmith

Read the Summers and Swan book if you want an impartial intelligent insight. It debunks conspiracy theorists amateur analysis - Jim Gamble

"I have seen no basis at any stage for challenging the integrity of the police."

Lord Justice Leveson - The Leveson Inquiry

We never take for granted the continued support and trust which Londoners feel for their Met.Bernard Hogan-Howe

Bush told reporters that “One day, people will look back at this moment in history and say, ‘Thank God there were courageous people willing to serve, because they laid the foundations for peace for generations to come.’

George W Bush on Iraq 2008

"It is sad that we live in a time when a talented and honourable person like Alberto Gonzales is impeded from doing important work because his good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons," Bush said in Crawford, Texas.

''The effects of radiation do not come to people that are happy and laughing. They come to people that are weak-spirited, that brood and fret.''

“I think the Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude, and I believe most Iraqis express that. I mean, the people understand that we've endured great sacrifice to help them. That's the problem here in America. They wonder whether or not there is a gratitude level that's significant enough in Iraq.”

Bush interview 60 Minutes 1/14/07

“All hurricanes are acts of God because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God and they were recipients of the judgment of God for that.” – John Hagee

''Once Iraq becomes a very rich and prosperous country... we would hope that some consideration be given to repaying the United States some of the mega-dollars that we have spent here in the last eight years.

We were hoping that there would be a consideration of a payback because the United States right now is in close to a very serious economic crisis and we could certainly use some people to care about our situation as we have cared about theirs.''

Dana Rohrabacher (R) June 2011

''It's not natural for animals to eat each other, they have taken on the nature of Satan. What is natural for animals is to live in the way they were created in the Garden of Eden.''